Two row potato digger and harvester



March 6, 1945. T. B. STEVENS TWO ROW POTATO DIGGER AND HARVESTER Filed May 12 1945 4 Sheet-Sheet 1 Inventor 7MB iemens QMQOIZEZML March 6', 1945. T. B. STEVENS TWO RQW POTATO DIGGER AND HARVESTER Filed May 12, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor 7W .Sfeaeris l y flaw and aazi'm lim March 6, 1945 T. B. STEVENS 2,371,076

TWO ROW POTATO DIGGER AND HARVESTER Filed May 12, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 i Inventor E IIII 7 m. Sievezas w I March 6, 1945. STEVENS 2,371,076

TWO ROW POTATO DIGGER AND HARVESTER Filed May 12, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Inventor JWB' 52 6216725 were; e, 1945' UNITED "STATES PATENTS, OFFICE T TWOROW POTATO DIGG ER AND HARVESTER Thomas Stevens, Wilmington, Ill.

Application May 12, 1943, Serial No. 486,709 '1 Claim. (Cl. 55-9).

My invention relates to a potato digger or harvester which digs two rows at a time by being pulled between two rows forcing one row right and the other left and pulling all potatoesbein or out along the front beam for narrowing or widening the frame 10 or swung around bolts I5 as pivots thereby tilting wheels 39 and 41. Similarly. the rear ends of the side members or tween h W djmd r wn the rerunners ll may be set further apart or closer turn trip with the same operation there .will be two rows of dug potatoes together so that the pickers can pick up two rows at a time instead of only one, and thus cut the time almost in half.

together by means of the telescopically constructed rear member or beam l3. This beam is provided with a right hand top leaf Ma and a left hand bottom leaf 13b. Along their adjacent,

In the operation, the first wheel starts the row interengaging inner ends these sliding leaves are by moving part of it, then the next wheel, moves the restof the potato hill farther over, and then the picker or spider wheel finishes by forcing all otatoes out into the center between the dug and undug rows.

Another object of the invention is the frame adjustment for height, so that one or the othen of the front and rear bars of the frame may be set higher than the other. Also adjustment for width of the frame is provided for on its front and rear bars as also for tilting the, wheels out of the vertical plane.

The invention is also applicable to cultivators, pulverizers and other agricultural machines.

In the accompanying drawings one embodiment of my invention is illustrated, wherein:

Figure l is a top plan view of the machine. Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1.

provided with a series of holes is for connectin bolts H. In this manner, by adjusting the length of the beam I3, the desired width of the rear end of the frame will be obtained and then by ap- Figure 3 is a transverse section along the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of a digger wheel. Figure 5 is a similar view of a spider or scraper wheel.

Figure 6 is a detail of a bracket for securing the wheels in position on the frame.

Figure '7 isa perspective view of angle conher or beam l3. a cross brace I4 for bracing the side members ll of the frame. The side members II are situated symmetrically on both sides of the center line of the machine as seen best in Figure 1. The front ends of the two members II are secured to the front beam l2 by a hinge member lie with bolts I21) and securing bolts l5 engaging in the adjustment holes I6 of the beam in adjustable manner so that the ends of the side members or runners I I may be moved plying the bolts l! in the corresponding holes 16, a rigid frame construction is'obtained. The rear ends of the side runners H are adjustably secured in place to the ends of the rear beam I3 by bolts 23 and hinge brackets 24} so that by the movement in or out of the leaves l3a, and l3b of the said beam 13, the side runners H will be correspondingly set apart for the desired width of the frame. By swinging the brackets 24 around their bolts 23 the same tilting as at the front end will be accomplished,

In order to still further strengthen the frame construction a cross brace M also is provided, placed about midway between the front beam 52 and the rear beam I3 and preferably parallel thereto. This brace is also telescopic being com,- posed of two sliding metal bands Ma and Nb joined together-by bolts 58 for which purpose a series of bolt holes l9 have been provided for extending or shortening the brace according to the desired width of the frame Ill and the adjusted length of the beam I3. This brace i4 is at each end adjustably secured to the side runners H by means of an angle brace which consists of a perpendicular member 20 and the obliquely thereto placed link members 2|, see Figures 3 and '7. The link member 2| is adjustable as to length by the screw-connection 2m and has an eyelet at each end in order to be permanently secured on top of the side runners H and to the brace M by means of eye bolts 22 or the like.

For steering the potato machine during operation I provide suitable handle bars 29 attached to the rear beam l3 of the frame and depending from said beam 13 is shown a pair of forked bearings 25 for traction wheels 26. Each forked bearing has an upright rod or arm 21 provided with a row of holes for bolts 28 for adjustable attachment up or down to the beam l3. By this means the rear end of the frame can be tilted,

arm 34. This provides an additional means for tilting the frame Ill.

The front beam also carries means for pulling here shown for horse-draft in the form of a singletree 35, held in position by a hinge attachment 36 to the front beam l2. It will be evident a tractor may instead be used for propulsion.

The main feature of the invention resides in the provision of digging wheels of the spring type 38.

'39 and spider pick-up or spreader wheels on either side of the frame ID. A pair of such digging wheels 38 is here shown on the left hand side and another like pair 39 on the right hand side of the frame ID. All four wheels are alike in construction and consist each of a fiat fellyring or cutting blade 40 of metal and quite narrow in order that as little as possible of the loosened soil may stick to it, but be thrown over the inner edge of the blade. Spokes 4| which are welded or riveted to the ring or blade 40, c'onnect the latter with the hub 42 to which they are bolted or secured in the usual manner. A bearing block 43 of wedge shape, Figure 6, is secured by bolts 44 to the runner II and provided with a stub shaft 45 upon which the wheel hub 42 rotates. H

-As seen in Figure 1, when thesbearing blocks have been secured in position, the two digging wheels of the pair 38 will be relatively staggered, the forward wheel being closefto the center line of the frame i and the rear wheel further out, so that in this manner two paralleltracks will be made in the soil. Similarl; two other tracks will be made on the other side of the frame.

parallel to the first ones, by the digging wheelpair 39. As already described the wheel pair 38 may be brought closer to the wheel pair 33 by the shifting of the side runners I l in the frame and consequently also the pairs of resulting tracks will be closer together. I

It will be seen from Figure 1 that the wheel 'pairs 38 are not set parallel to the wheel pair 39 but set at a skew thereto as to the axis of the apparatus. In other words, their front ends are closer together than their rear ends, so that they actually do not cut a furrow in the soil but scrape it to one side as they travel along the ground.

. In Figure 8 is indicated how the wheels 38, 3 9

and 41 all being mounted on the runners II can be tilted out of the perpendicular by turning said runners and securing them by means of and set at a ske'w to the frame I0 and each mounted to revolve on a stub shaft 48 carried by the wedge block 49v fixed in the same manner as the ring-disk wheels on the frame. In this case the wheel spokes 50 are as before secured to the wheel hub 5|. There is no rim attached to 'the spokes, but their "outer free ends 53 are bent rearward as seen from the top, so that when the spider wheels 41 roll along the ground, the spoke ends or points 53 will push outwardly any potatoes in the soft soil left by the preceding wheels.

After one row has thus been plowed on both sides by the machine, the frame is then turned around for its return trip and shifted sideways across another row bf potato vines to straddle the same.

As will now be understood, this machine is a two row digger which will cut the time in half for digging and thereby save much labor and in addition it will uncover all potatoes left in the ground and covered by the dirt, so that no after picking will be necessary. A

It is evident that the front and rear beams l2 and I3 may be constructed alike, so that for iny stance both may be telescopic for adjusting the width of the frame similar tothe cross brace l4 or all three may be provided with bolt holes for securing the ends of the side runners H for th same purpose.

Although there are set forth' and described herein preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be definitely understood that I do not desire to limit the application of the invention thereto, and any change or changes may be made in the materials, and in the structure and arrangement of the parts, within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the subjoined claim.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is;

A double row potato digging machine, comprising a frame, pairs of digging wheels of the spring type and spider wheels thereon and means for adjusting the angularity and Width of the frame and the angularity and lateral distance between the wheels during operation; said spider wheels being arranged behind said digging wheels and laterally spaced therefrom, the spider Wheels each consisting of a hub and spokes made of straight rods of uniform cross section without rim, the free ends of the spokes being bent in hook shape so as to scrape the soil outwardly sideways when the machine moves forward and the digging wheels each consisting of a thin felly-ring, a hub and wire spokes connecting hub and ring.

- THOMAS B. STEVENS. 

